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PAUL:

Artists, musicians, makers and community all rolled into one in celebration of one of Jackson's oldest neighborhoods.

Hey, it's Paul Wolf with a front-row seat to conversations on culture from Jackson, Mississippi. We call our podcast Soul Sessions. It's the people, places and events that make the City With Soul shine. On today's show, my colleague Yolanda Clay-Moore talks with Connor Reeves, one of the committee members responsible for Greater Belhaven Foundation’s Belhaven Bright Lights. The festival has taken on a larger footprint since reinventing last year, all while scaling back to highlight the greater Belhaven neighborhood of Belhaven and Belhaven Heights.

YOLANDA:

Thank you for joining us today.

CONNER:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

YOLANDA:

We are celebrating 18 years of Belhaven Bright Lights. Is that correct?

CONNER:

I think that's right. I'm no mathlete, but it's been going on a long time. Excited to be having it back again this year.

YOLANDA:

You know, I think it's important that we talk a little bit about the neighborhood to understand the event. Of course, Greater Belhaven consists of two areas, which are both historic, Belhaven Heights and Belhaven. Just speak to what those neighborhoods mean to you and to the city.

CONNER:

That's kind of a fun question. I actually grew up in the neighborhood a long time ago, just around the corner. I have a law office right now in the neighborhood, and also we have a brewery, Fertile Ground Beer Company. It's right there in the heart of Belhaven - the town center. But I grew up in the neighborhood. It was just a great vibe of the neighborhood. And it's just so cool to see the area of town has continued to just maintain so much great culture and a place so folks just want to come together for a variety of reasons. And this event we're talking about is just a great embodiment of that. It's a cool way to celebrate all of the, you know, all the creators and artists and restaurants and other businesses that make up Belhaven and certainly all of the residents in the greater Belhaven neighborhood also. So a of cool stuff going on. This whole area of town to me is a place where people that are really doing things come together all the time.

YOLANDA:

Absolutely. There's a lot of creative energy in that part of town. And as you know, it's great to see the things that are happening with all the new businesses and opportunities for people to come in and take part in it. So it's really exciting. And we think of our artists. So we think of course, Eudora Welty and even Katherine Stockett. This event kinda celebrates people like that, right?

CONNER:

Yeah, for sure. All the different artists that are coming together, both visual and musical, food, celebrations, know, all the different creators, all of that comes together through this event and really as the name implies, bright lights, shining a bright light on all the wonderful things, the people that make up this community and add to it in various ways, whether they live in the neighborhood or not, there's a lot of folks doing a lot of great things in the greater Belhaven area.

YOLANDA:

So for someone who's never been in these 18 years, that's hard to imagine, but just let's say, just tell people what they can expect.

CONNER:

Well, it is a one-day event. It's free, open to the public. It's going to be all day on Sunday, September 22nd. And unlike in years past, this year, and then I guess last year was the first year we started doing this, a form of a progressive day that starts in Belhaven Heights and then moves over towards the rest of Belhaven neighborhood for sort of an all day and into the evening, but not late night, fun day of celebration with music and food. Different stages and markets and things like that. Belhaven Heights all the way up to Belhaven Town Center.

YOLANDA:

So attendees get a chance to experience all the parts of Belhaven.

CONNER:

For sure. You can make a day out of it, get to see all the different parts of Belhaven and then go basically hour by hour, different things going on all the way from 10 o 'clock in the morning until about eight o 'clock that night.

YOLANDA:

And I thought it was befitting that it's on a Sunday because we are still in the Bible Belt and Sunday is kind of reserved for families, right? And so this is a family-friendly event, correct?

CONNER:

Absolutely. Years past, long time ago, this event started out as a mostly Saturday evening and Saturday night event. Last year was the first year that it had been done on a Sunday. And we brought it back again this year on a Sunday as a way just to ensure that folks from all walks of life could come out, their families and come enjoy a day together in this community event. Not everyone can make it out on a Saturday night, but Sunday afternoon or midday Sunday seems to work for a lot of people, too. So it worked great last year, last year was the first year of this new model. And we had a humongous attendance, even though it was the middle of a mega heat wave. Hopefully we'll get to avoid that this year.

YOLANDA:

Well, that's, that's August in Mississippi, right?

CONNER:

It is. And we did bump it back one month this year into September, but boy, last year was so hot. And you know what? People still showed up. We still had great attitudes and they slugged through it. They had cold things to drink and fans and just made the most of it.

YOLANDA:

Now the music has been described from soul jazz to Mississippi rock. So talk about the music element that's going to be a part of this.

CONNER:

Yeah. The music is real fun. It's such a great mix, very collective mix of local musicians. So there's really something for everybody. We've had some great help putting together different stages that are being going on. There's really four stages if you want to think of it that way. And every stage has got a variety of artists playing in it. But you're right. It's some jazz and soul music, indie, indie rock, acoustic rock. I mean, there's just a pretty wide variety. And yeah, that's again, that's to cast a wide net and ensure people can come down and enjoy local musicians and probably get exposed to music maybe they don't know about.

YOLANDA:

That's an incredible platform for local artists. And I know that you all have been very intentional about supporting local artists.

CONNER:

Absolutely. Yeah. Everybody's local and these are all local businesses that are supporting these stages. That was the whole point. It was to bring in more of a local focus, highlighting all the artists, businesses, creators that are right here in and around, not just necessarily in Belhaven, but certainly in the Jackson area.

YOLANDA:

I was looking at the laundry list of performances in the Spiritual, Sad Bath, Smokey's, Vae, Rose Haven Motor Hotel, Fondren Guitars Student Rock Band, Soul City 3, Holy Vision, Kenny Pahena and DJ Young Venom. Now, how do I all those pronunciations correct?

CONNER:

As far as I know, and I'm not the one that books the music, look, and most of these, I may not even know who they are either, but that's the point. You get to get exposed to up-and-coming artists or those that are breaking into the scene right now, or those that already gained some local attraction. And it's just so much fun to see it here from local artists.

YOLANDA:

Yeah. We say that we are the birthplace of America's music. And I don't take that statement lightly. And I don't know if we get quite enough credit for the musical talent that has come from this area. And it's programs like this, events like this, that give these young artists their start.

CONNER:

I definitely want to give a shout out to Cody Cox and Molly West over Urban Foxes. They've done such a great job of seeing and knowing so many of these bands and cultivating this list of artists. That's really a talent that, knowing who's around town and what's a good fit. And also what's a nice blend to go from. So it's not just one style of music on one stage only. It's a great blend that I think is gonna be really exciting for folks to come out and enjoy. It really is. You mentioned the Fondren Guitars Rock Band. Those are students. These are kids that are getting into music. And this may be their first opportunity or one of their earliest opportunities to play in a public setting, which is really great. We're excited about that, too.

But we also have some other great things going on that day. If you don't mind me just, want to hit highlights.

YOLANDA:

Sure, for certain.

CONNER:

We also got local markets. JXN Flea will be over in Belhaven Heights from 10 to 3 that day. So a lot of local vendors will be right there. That's in the morning portion. In the evening, there will be a market as well over at the Belhaven Town Center. So we've got two opportunities for local markets, local vendors. So excited about that. And also food. Urban Foxes is just doing food in the morning, moving over to Sunflower Oven in the middle of the day with some brunch options and then over to the Belhaven Town Center in the afternoon and evening with some pop-up food as well. It's about as local as it gets.

PAUL:

That's Connor Reeves in conversation with Yolanda Clay-Moore about Belhaven's Bright Lights. It's happening on Sunday, September 22nd in the Belhaven and Belhaven Heights neighborhoods. The schedule is coming together. Get all the details in our show notes at visitjackson.com/soulsessions.

Our podcast is produced by Visit Jackson, the destination organization for Mississippi's capital city. Our executive producers are Jonathan Pettus and Dr. Rickey Thigpen. And I'm our managing editor. You want to know more about the great work we're doing in Jackson, Mississippi to help the city shine? You can find that at visitjackson.com.

I'm Paul Wolf, and you've been listening to Soul Sessions.

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